Thenmap

Thenmap is a repository for historical, current and future borders.
You can use it to create maps with your favourite mapping tool, or fetch a ready-made SVG map.

Explore the data

Preview available data, and download ready-made SVG files in the sandbox.

Use the sandbox to play around with datasets, projections and languages.

You can also preview your own data on a choropleth map, using Google Sheets.

Sandbox →

Use with CartoDB

Use an url to the Thenmap API as the source for a map layer in CartoDB.

To make a map of Finnish municipalities on January 1 2016, use this url: http://api.thenmap.net/v2/fi-8/geo/2016-01-01?geo_props=name&language=fi. This will also include municipality names in your selected language. Replace fi-8 with the id you the dataset you want to use, fi with the language of your choice, and date as required.

An example: French colonies in 1949

Thenmap API

Use the Thenmap API to fetch geodata as GeoJSON or TopoJSON, prerendered maps as SVG files, or metadata.

Pass a date and optionally a preferred coordinate system or projection, and the API will give you all borders in return. Like the world in 1956, or Swedish municipalities from 1979.

The Thenmap API currently holds world borders (1945–), Swedish municipalities (1974–) and counties (1968–), Finnish municipalities (2010–), US states (1865–), Norwegian municipalities (2006–), Municipalities of Greenland (1979–) and Municipalities of Switzerland (2010–).

API documentation →

Thenmap.js

Lightweight JS library for simple maps

You can color the map by defining fill colors in a Google spreadsheet.

This code draws the map above.

<div id="worldmap"></div>
<script src="https://drvkoaf101245.cloudfront.net/thenmap-2.1.0.min.js"></script>
<script>
var settings = {
   dataKey: "1xyNmpKKksy7ZaELB12UY4M2CP0-4EkwO7DWpfu30wsE",
   map: "world-2",
   date: "1949-05-06"
}
Thenmap.init("worldmap", settings);
</script>

Play around with the settings in the interactive sandbox

Thenmap.js documentation →

There is metadata too!

We use WikiData to populate the database with useful metadata.

This provides you with an easy way to fetch, say, the currencies in use in the world in 1974.

For a complete usage example, see flags-of-the-world.herokuapp.com.

Python library

We have a simple Python library make access to the most used parts of the API really simple.

Run pip install thenmap to get started.

thenmap-python →

Credits, copyright and licensing

Thenmap is built by Leo Wallentin from Journalism++ Stockholm, Danny Mallas Pereira and Jens Finnäs.

And extra applause: Internetstiftelsen has been kind enough to support this project.

Latest changes

Minor border fixes and translations are added continuously. These are the recent major changes:

  • 2018-10-04: Added Norwegian counties (no-4)
  • 2018-01-04: Swiss municipality changes in 2018, 2019 (ch-8)
  • 2017-11-03: Norwegian border changes in 2018 (no-7)
  • 2017-01-27: Added Danish municipalities (dk-7)
  • 2016-12-20: Added Norwegian municipalities (no-7)
  • 2016-12-19: Swiss municipality changes in 2017 (ch-8)

Contribute

Found an error? Report in on our Trello board!

Looking for the old version of this page? Find it at old.thenmap.net.